The two walked up to the small building on the roadside. The light in the small building was dim, and there seemed to be a faint damp smell of moldy wood.
Even the stairs are not as stable and solid as elsewhere, and they make a creaking sound as soon as you step on them.
The two of them walked up to the second floor and saw an old man with messy white hair and a dark and wrinkled face sitting at the window smoking a cigarette.
The old man was wearing patched clothes. If you didn't look at the smoking pot in his hand, which was obviously made of gold, you might have thought he was an inconspicuous old beggar on the street. Luo Junyao even remembered,
She had indeed seen this beggar on a certain street in Shangyong.
The old man squinted his eyes and looked at the two of them for a long time, then frowned and said, "I remember... General Luo only has two sons? Who is this young master?"
Luo Jinxing blocked his sister behind him, stared at the old man and said, "Who is this old gentleman?"
The old man seemed to find it a little funny and said: "You want to see me, but you don't know who I am? I am the person that the young master behind you is looking for."
Luo Junyao pulled Luo Jinxing's sleeve, and Luo Jinxing looked back at her before letting go.
Luo Junyao smiled and said, "Mr. Bian, I'm sorry to bother you."
The old man squinted his eyes and looked at her for a while before slowly saying: "You are really old, your eyes are already dim. It turns out that this is not a young master but a little girl. Is this the daughter of General Luo?"
Luo Junyao did not deny it, "I admire the old man for his keen eyesight." Where is this old man blind? His eyes are obviously very powerful.
She dressed up in men's clothing seriously in broad daylight, not as perfunctory as the night before. No one noticed anything wrong along the way.
The old man nodded and stood up and said: "Princess Regent, Second Young Master Luo, please take a seat."
The two of them walked to sit across from the old man and looked out the window at people cleaning up the aftermath on the street below.
"Are those the old gentleman's men? I'm really sorry." Luo Jun said, but his tone and look did not mean he was sorry. The old man shook his head and said: "They are not my men. If they don't have the foresight to target you two, they will deserve their death."
." He said this very calmly, a bit coldly. His old eyes looked down very calmly, as if he didn't care at all about someone making trouble on his own territory.
"The Princess Regent is here, and I don't know why?" the old man asked. "The Princess has also seen that the people living in this area are similar to those down there. Although I, an old man, can talk to some extent, it's not much.
He's just an old beggar who has only a few years to live, so I'm afraid he won't be able to help the princess."
Luo Junyao said: "Originally, I shouldn't have bothered the old gentleman, but I heard that the old gentleman is the most well-informed person in this area."
The old man shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm afraid this is an exaggeration. In the west of the city... all the major forces are secretly entrenched. Let's just talk about the extremely wealthy Mingyin Pavilion and the Fenglei Hall with the backing of the Thunder Gate. Which one is me, an old beggar?
Can you afford it? Besides...the Prince Regent’s Mansion and the Luo family, why do we need to ask others for news?"
Luo Junyao smiled and said: "The old gentleman is too modest. The Luo family and the Regent's Palace are also beyond their reach. Fenglei Hall and Mingyin Pavilion are powerful, but they haven't invaded this place, right?"
The old man shook his head and said: "It's not that they don't want to, but they are disdainful. Although they are not aboveboard, in their opinion, the people living here are all old, weak, sick, and vicious but incompetent scum. It is not worth their trouble.
That’s all.”
"Why do you want to stay here, old gentleman?" Luo Junyao asked.
The old man shook his head and said: "The old man was born and raised here, and naturally he will die here."
Luo Jinxing gave the old man a strange look. Although the old man looked like an ordinary old beggar, just by listening to his words, he knew that this old man was by no means as ordinary as he looked. At least he should have read a lot of books.
Luo Junyao didn't do any ink and said, "Old sir, I know the rules."
The old man raised his head and glanced at her without saying anything. Luo Junyao reached out and put a banknote on the table and slowly pushed it towards him.
The old man raised his hand and opened it. It was a silver note worth one thousand taels.
The old man looked at the banknote in front of him and said nothing. Luo Junyao was not in a hurry. After a while, the old man asked: "What do you want to ask, princess?"
A sweet smile appeared on Luo Junyao's face. She looked at the old man and said, "The question I want to ask is very simple. I heard that there was a power transition in Mingyin Pavilion a few years ago. What happened at that time?"
The old man was stunned for a moment, and looked at Luo Junyao with a somewhat meaningful look in his eyes, "Princess, this question... is not simple. Where can we, the people like us, find out the news about Mingyin Pavilion in such a place full of gold and jade?"
Luo Jun shook his chin and said, "But I'm afraid your time in the west of the city is longer than the existence of Mingyin Pavilion. I don't believe that you don't know anything."
The old man laughed twice and did not deny Luo Junyao's compliment.
There was silence on the small building for a long time. The people downstairs had cleaned up the street again, but no one paid attention to the blood stains on the ground. However, the traces of various unknown types on the street had accumulated several layers. The little blood stains
I'm afraid it won't attract anyone's attention after doing it.
"The people of Mingyin Pavilion...I, an old man, can't afford to offend them." The old man sighed.
Luo Jinxing looked at the old man and couldn't help but said, "Do you think you can offend us?"
The old man obviously did not expect that the seemingly upright Second Young Master Luo would say such a thing. He couldn't help but look at him several times before nodding and smiling: "Second Young Master Luo is right, I can't afford to offend you either."
As if he sighed helplessly, the old man said: "I can tell you the news you want to know, but... the princess must agree to my request."
Luo Junyao said: "Old sir, please tell me."
The old man said: "After this incident, the princess will send someone to take the people in the courtyard at the end of this street out of the west of the city and find a place to resettle them so that they can survive and don't have to come back again in the future."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Luo Junyao did not agree immediately, but just asked: "Are there any fugitives among those people?"
The old man laughed and said: "Of course not. Since I said it after the fact, there will naturally be no people that the princess cannot accept. Otherwise, what will happen if the princess regrets it and I am an old man? They are all ordinary people."
Luo Junyao glanced at the old man in front of him with some surprise. He was already very old and looked very thin, just like any inconspicuous old beggar on the street. Although if the gold on the pipe in his hand was taken out,
Go, at least enough for him to live peacefully like an ordinary person outside for several years.
Before coming here, she naturally knew some of the situation in the west of the city, and also had some understanding of this old man. Although he was very old and seemed to be just an ordinary beggar, he was very fluent in this area, and the residents in this area were also very knowledgeable.
I'm willing to give him some face.
Such a person could have lived a good life even in such a place. But he looked so thin and old, and so down and out and tired.
Luo Junyao nodded and said, "Okay, I promise you."
"Shake..." Luo Jinxing frowned slightly and reminded in a low voice.
Luo Junyao smiled at him and said softly: "Second brother, don't worry, I know it well." She probably knew who the old man wanted her to take care of.
The old man said: "General Luo and the regent are both heroes of the world. I believe in the princess's promise."
Luo Junyao smiled and said, "Thank you, old sir."
The old man looked at Luo Junyao and said, "The princess just asked about the Mingyin Pavilion?"
Luo Jun shook his head, and the old man chuckled and said: "Mingyin Pavilion... there was no such place here when I was a child. I remember that Mingyin Pavilion first appeared here thirty-six years ago. Of course, Mingyin Pavilion at that time
The Mingyin Pavilion was not as prosperous as it is now, it was just a gambling house. It was several years after Emperor Gaozu ascended the throne that Mingyin Pavilion became truly powerful. As for what you asked about...the power transfer in Mingyin Pavilion was four years ago.
things."
Luo Junyao asked: "What kind of person is the master of Mingyin Pavilion?"
The old man smiled and said: "Is the princess asking about the previous Pavilion Master or the current one?" Without waiting for Luo Junyao to answer, he said: "I saw the Pavilion Master in front of Mingyin Pavilion when Mingyin Pavilion first appeared. If
He must be sixty now if he's not dead. There's nothing much to say about that man. I don't know what his background is. To be able to open a gambling house in a place like this, at least if you have money and are not afraid of trouble, you can't be an ordinary person. And at that time
There are many masters around him, and newcomers are always troubled by others, but he was able to establish himself here in two or three years. Later, he gradually became less and less seen, and the Mingyin Pavilion became more and more mysterious. I was still here at that time
I’m young and don’t know much.”
After saying this, the old man sighed and said: "As for the current Pavilion Master... I met him ten years ago, when he was still a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old. He was the disciple of the old Pavilion Master. Four years ago, Mingyin
What happened in the pavilion... It's simple to say, now this pavilion master had a falling out with the old pavilion master, so he killed the master and took the position himself."
Luo Junyao said: "But I heard that the old pavilion master was... chopped up and fed to dogs." This is not something that can be explained in three words after a falling out.
The old man smiled and said: "Princess is well-informed. The old pavilion master...has some shady habits. This is nothing at first. How many of these people...are normal? But a few years ago, a violinist suddenly appeared in Mingyin Pavilion.
, this violinist should have a good relationship with the current Pavilion Master. No one knows what happened specifically. They only know that the old Pavilion Master died half a year later. That day, it is said that the entire floor of the Mingyin Pavilion seemed to be stained with blood.
, for this reason, Mingyin Pavilion even deliberately closed down for a month to clean up the blood stains. Since then, I have never seen the stewards of Mingyin Pavilion that I was familiar with in the west of the city, and I have not even seen the corpses.
I know where it was taken. As for what the princess said...feeding the dog, I have never seen it, so I don’t know if it is true or false."
Luo Jun shook his head and thought. The old man looked at her with a smile, "Is there anything else you want to ask, Princess?"
Luo Junyao said in a deep voice: "Now in the Mingyin Pavilion, does the master of the Mingyin Pavilion have the final say, or does the piano master have the final say?"
The old man kept silent and just looked at Luo Junyao steadily. Luo Junyao did not force himself and changed the question, "Is there a third entrance and exit in the underground palace of Mingyin Pavilion in the city?"
The old man's expression changed slightly but he still did not speak. Luo Junyao was not in a hurry and did not ask any other questions.
Luo Junyao looked at the old man and smiled and said: "Old sir, you are not being kind. I agreed to all your terms without bargaining, but you only gave me some indifferent news."
The old man was silent for a long time before sighing, shaking his head and saying: "General Luo's daughter is really not a fuel-efficient lamp."
The old man raised his head and looked directly at Luo Junyao and said: "I don't know where the piano master from Mingyin Pavilion came from, and I don't know if he is the eldest son of the prime minister's family. But I know... before he arrived, the current master of the pavilion
He has never thought about resisting his master, and their master-disciple relationship should be pretty good. In fact, he doesn't have the ability to resist his master." Luo Jun was shaken. It was Xue Ya's arrival that gave him the ability or motivation to resist.
The old man continued: "As for the princess's second question... I guessed later that there was something fishy about the underground palace under Mingyin Pavilion. For decades before this, I didn't know there was such a big underground palace under the west of the city. Later I also
I had some doubts, so I wandered around that area in the western suburbs for two years, but I didn't see anything special. If the princess really suspected that there was something wrong with the underground palace, I guess the exit outside the city should be in the western suburbs.
Somewhere in the mountains. As for the city... I don't know."
The old man shook his head and said: "I am just an old beggar who can occasionally get some information. I only know so much. If the princess is not satisfied, I have no other way. Mingyin Pavilion has become more and more difficult to enter in recent years. If you want to
It’s not easy to check their information.”
Luo Jun raised his eyebrows and said, "What the old gentleman means is that it was not difficult to enter the Mingyin Pavilion in the past?"
The old man said: "At least twenty years ago, Mingyin Pavilion was just a place where brothels and gambling houses were run. Although it was more mysterious than those brothels and gambling houses outside, and there were some things that seemed out of the ordinary to outsiders, but... it was different from those
There is not much difference in the influence of the Jianghu. Those shady businesses are not done by the Mingyin Pavilion family." He would choose to open a store in a place like this because he is doing some business that is difficult to do outside.
"It didn't work anymore later. I was able to get this information because I had some friendships with people in Mingyin Pavilion in the early years. Later, these people disappeared. Mingyin Pavilion became more and more powerful, and the stalls became bigger and bigger. Now it's no longer possible.
It is difficult to find out the news about Mingyin Pavilion.
Luo Jun shook his head and said, "Thank you sir."
After bidding farewell to the old man, the two of them came down from the small building and walked out.
Perhaps because of previous lessons, this time although the people who were spying on them still existed, no one came forward anymore.
Luo Jinxing said in confusion: "You came here specifically to ask for this information?"
Luo Jun shook his head and said: "Yes, I still asked some questions, didn't I?"
Luo Jinxing rolled his eyes, "You don't need to go there personally, and the Prince Regent's Palace can also find out this information, right?" Luo Junyao smiled and said: "Those who have lived here all their lives and have witnessed the rise of Mingyin Pavilion have only
After being able to find out this, does the second brother think that the news about Mingyin Pavilion is easy to find out? Moreover, that old man is not a simple person. At least in the west of the city, the news he didn't tell us just now is either because he refused to tell us, or he really wanted to find out.
Less than.”
Luo Jinxing didn't believe it. The old man might indeed have some abilities, but he seemed to be living in a miserable state.
Luo Junyao smiled and said: "Second brother, don't underestimate him. If he really wants to cause trouble for us today, it will be quite troublesome."
Luo Jinxing shrugged and said: "Okay, anyway, the eldest brother just said that I should follow you, and you can decide where to go. Where should we go now?"
Luo Junyao thought for a while and said, "Go to Fenglei Hall and see if General Yu has finished talking to the leader of Lei Hall. There may be some news from him."
Luo Jinxing reminded: "Fenglei Hall came later." If the old man didn't know, Fenglei Hall might not know either.
Luo Junyao smiled and said: "But that Hall Master Lei must have dealt with the Master of Mingyin Pavilion. Second brother, what do you think the origin of this Mr. Xueya is?"
Luo Jinxing shook his head and said he didn't know. He didn't like to use his brain on these things. He was too tired.
Luo Junyao smiled and said: "Perhaps... Master Xueya is from Luanyi Division. As for Mingyin Pavilion..." Mingyin Pavilion must be related to Luanyi Division, but it may not be the relationship they originally thought.
"These are all your guesses."
"Bold assumptions, careful verification." Luo Junyao pulled his second brother's sleeve and said: "Let's go, let's go find General Yu now."
